Summary: What does religion look like when God is not at the center? 1) It is empowered by rebellion. 2) It is based on human works. 3) It invariably leads to judgment.

• Religious leaders from a dozen different faiths held an Ash Wednesday service at United Nations Church Center Chapel in New York.

• The front of the chapel included not only a cross, but also emblems for the Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic faiths.

• The lengthy service never mentioned the name of Jesus.

• Closing hymn- (see attached)

2. There is a great movement in the world today to find some way to heaven that does not include Jesus and His cross. This movement is influencing your neighbors, friends, and family. Many of them are being deluded into believing that there is another way to heaven other than the “old rugged cross.” The words of Proverbs were never more appropriate than they are today: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of that path is death.”

3. We shouldn’t be surprised by this turn of events. This desire to find an alternative to God’s way of entering heaven is as old as the tower of Babel! Several generations after the flood, a group of people built a city in the ancient region of Shinar (ancient Sumer).

4. The builders of this city wanted to build a tower, “whose top is in the heavens.” Obviously, they didn’t believe that they could build a tower that would literally allow them into heaven. This is an expression of their spiritual motives. This tower was to be the temple for a new religion that did not include God, His sacrificial system, nor His covenant of grace made with Noah.

5. Text: In our text we read about the first attempt to establish a religious system apart from God.

6. Today: The basic characteristics of the false religion started at Babel are the same basic characteristics of all false religions in the world today.

7. What are the characteristics of religion apart from God?

I. RELIGION APART FROM GOD IS EMPOWERED BY REBELLION

1. Notice:

 10:8-10 Babel founded by man named Nimrod. His very name means, “rebel.”

 Compare Genesis 11:4 with 9:1 This city was built as an act of rebellion against God!

2. These people were the direct descendents of Noah. They knew the truth about God! When Nimrod stood before them and said, “I’ve got a great idea. Let’s forget about God’s way, and lets do our own thing” why would they follow him? Why would they turn from truth to falsehood? Rebellion!

3. When a new religious system appears and says, “listen, you don’t have to worry about that old cross business. Let me show you a new way” why does that false religion have such a tremendous appeal to us? Because, like Nimrod, we are all rebels at heart. There is something within us that says, “God, I don’t want your way. I’m going to find my own way!”

4. Illus. of Abbey (3 years old)

• Sid told her no about something

• She went in and told her mom, “Daddy told me no. I not like daddy to tell me no!”

• Caught Sid asleep on couch, went in and whispered, “no!” She then told her mom, “I told daddy no!”

• Isn’t that our heart? “God, you don’t tell me what I can and cannot do. I’ll tell you!”